Common names include Mayan cichlid (English), Mexican mojarra (English), orange tiger (English), castarrica (Spanish), and schwanzfleckbuntbarsch (German)

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The Mayan cichlid was originally described as Heros urophthalmus in 1862 by Dr. Albert Günther of the British Museum of Natural History. In 1867, Franz Steindachner of Austria described Heros troschelii based on specimens of Mayan cichlids from Mexico, creating a junior synonym. At present, the taxonomy of the Mayan cichlid exists in something of a state of flux, as the evolutionary relationships of many cichlids remain poorly understood. Recently proposed combinations for the Mayan cichlid include but are not limited to, Herichthys urophthalmus, Parapetenia urophthalma, and Astrontous urophthalmus. Nandopsis urophthalma, is currently accepted as valid by some authors. As many as nine subspecies of the Mayan cichlid have been recognized. The genus of the currently accepted name, Cichlasoma is derived from the Greek words "kichle" = wrasse and "soma" = body.

The Mayan cichlid is native to the Central American Atlantic slope waters of southeastern Mexico (including the Yucatán Peninsula), Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Dr. Günther's type specimen is from Lake Petén, Guatemala. Non-indigenous populations of Mayan cichlids, first reported in 1983, are established in portions of Florida Bay and the Everglades in southern Florida, USA.

Common English names include oscar, velvet cichlid, red oscar, tiger oscar, and marble cichlid. Other names are acará-açu (Portuguese), acará-grande (Portuguese), acarahuazú (Spanish), acaraú-açu (Portuguese), aluago elselepo (Galibi), apaiari (Portuguese), astronotus (French), bola-de-ouro (Portuguese), cará-grande (Portuguese), cará-açu (Portuguese), carahuazú (Spanish), cichlidé oeil de paon (French), corró-baiano (Portuguese), corró-chinês (Portuguese), crombier (Creole), dorminhoco (Portuguese), krobié rouj (Creole), masug (Palicur), paya (Creole), pfauenaugenbuntbarsch (German), and pielegnica pawiooka (Polish).

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The oscar was formally described in 1831 as Lobotes ocellatus by the famous 19^th century zoologist and founder of Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. The genus Lobotes however, is entirely marine, and fishes of this genus, known as tripletails (Lobotidae) are of no meaningful relation to cichlids. It is surmised that Agassiz chose Lobotes in describing the oscar based on the fact that he believed his specimen or specimens to have been collected in the Atlantic Ocean. Considering the similarity in appearance of the oscar to the marine tripletails and the erroneous locality information, the original placement of the oscar in Lobotes is not surprising. Current taxonomic placement of the oscar is in the South American cichlid genus Astronotus. Astronotus is derived from the Greek words "astra" = ray and "noton" = back. Ocellatus is Latin for spotted, referring to the spotted pattern on the body of this fish. Synonyms include Acara compressus Cope 1872 and Hyposticta acara Cope 1878. Astronotus has long been considered a monotypic genus, but recent studies indicate that a number of other species of "oscar" abound in South America. Astronotus ocellatus as originally described appears to be restricted to Peru and Brazil.

Geographical Distribution Although the type locality for Agassiz’ specimen was published as "Atlantic Ocean" the oscar is a strictly freshwater species restricted to the Rio Ucayali drainage and upper Amazon river of Peru and Brazil. The error committed by Agassiz is easily attributable to the fact that many early species descriptions were based on specimens shipped to zoologists from far-flung locales and often these specimens were accompanied by little in the way of specific locality data. Indeed, there are many instances of early species descriptions with locality errors similar to the case of the oscar. A non-native population of oscars is well established in South Florida, USA.